kilts (outside of scotland)

doinkthemonkee · 3 April 2015 at 1:54PM

My hubby is Scottish. We do not live in Scotland. We live in sunny Norfolk. However he is 50 this year & I am thinking of buying him a kilt (full set).

I think my choses are:

go to Scotland with him & have him measured up for a kilt etc

Look for somewhere local & have him measured

Order from the internet & hope for the best.

The internet option is going to be the cheapest, but probably least authentic. Tho living in Norfolk & not Kirkcaldy I do wonder if the natives would notice or just be too busy swooning at the sight of his knees.

The kilt would be for work balls, parties & the odd wedding.

So my questions:

is it worth a trip to scotland to get him measured up & if so what companies would you recommend?

are there any decent local companies in or around PE30 area, to save a trip to Scotland?

are the internet companies ok (give a decent product that will look good & fit) & if so who would you recommend?

dave_r_burke · 9 April 2015 at 10:52PM

Hi

Hopefully I can give you some insight that might be helpful. I'm an Englishman and I have the full kilt outfit which I wear for ceilidhs, weddings and formal events (and the kilt for less formal events eg with a rugby shirt).

Being in England, initially I got the outfit on the cheap via eBay. Most of it was second hand etc and was fine, but there was a huge difference in how well it looked on me verses the tailored kilts my (mostly Scottish) friends have. Gradually I have replaced the whole outfit with tailor made items from Scotland and I have to say this is by far the best option. Nothing looks better than the real deal, tailor made kilt outfit.

My suggestion would be contact a kilt maker, agree the package (the website should have loads of picks) and ask them so send you a measuring guide to do the measuring yourself. Then once ready, get it posted down or make a weekend trip to Scotland and collect the finished article. I've done this and always been very happy with the result.

PS since I know some people will judge/criticise an Englishman for wearing a kilt but you now see people from across the UK and Ireland embracing the kilt - you just have to go to any 6 Nations game to see their growing popularity with Welsh and Irish fans. When I had my kilt made the Glasgow shop owner was telling me how this is a massively growing area of his business. On top of that the modern kilt was actually invented by an Englishman in the 1720s - Thomas Rawlinson, a Quaker from Lancashire :-).